Problems with star destroyers being ... destroyed

[Theodrim]

The Star Destroyer would be incapable of maneuvering...until the ionization damage is repaired, which with a crew in the thousands complete with engineering and repair teams, would be within a round or two. They'll have dozens of crewmen at least working on the same problem, which means a guaranteed success on the capital ship repair roll due to coordination.

And, "it only takes one success and it's just a matter of time...". That works both ways, you know. In the case of the Star Destroyer, it's ionized controls. In the case of the PC's, it's a highly likely TPK as 5-10D capital scale damage will insta-kill starfighter-scale ships. Been there, done that, enough to know tangling with a capital ship is playing with fire.

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

Do you run it where Hull drops 2d if they are powered down due to the loss of particle shields?
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[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

That makes me wonder.. There are quite a few ships out there which only HAVE 2d hull rating as is. So do they have NO hull if their power goes out?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[atgxtg]

[MadHun]

I got a simple or maybe not so simple question concerning the SF scale vs C scale weapons damage and such. If I remember it correctly mind you it was like 20 or so years ago that I played as a player, that a SF scale weapon on cap ship had a a cap of half for all rolled points or some such rule ? Also in the movie The Empire Strikes Back I seem to recall that the ION CANNON used against a star destroyer was using a planetary/cap scale gun to ionize the destroyers front and cause it to veer off from the intercept against the transports trying to escape. I dont see how a SF scale can do the same amount of ionization as a Cap/planetary weapon could.

[Thx1138]

given the fact that an ion blasts energy spreads through the electrical systems of a ship it will start to weaken the moment it penetrates the ships systems. If a starfighter scale Ion cannon hit a star destroyer the ion energy would need to spread through over ONE MILE worth of electrical systems in order to shut down enough systems. Given that, it would only cause a little flicker in the area it was hit since the energy would dissipate after a few seconds after impact.

[CRMcNeill]

My solution? I shifted the Scale System around, with most Capital Ships at +4D over Starfighters instead of +6D. However, I also shifted everything from the Victory Star Destroyer up to a new scale class, called Dreadnought, which is +8D over Starfighters and +4D over Capital Ships. That extra 2D makes the ISD a much tougher customer against SF-scale ion cannon. Of course, the planetary defense ion cannon and turbolasers get bumped up to Dreadnought scale, too...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Thx1138]

Seems right to add a new size class, ships like Imperial Star destroyers and Venator star destroyers are said to take on small groups warships and survive, it makes sense to upgrade the size of the ships to keep things like this from happening.

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

With regards to the original scenario, how about changing the rules for ion cannon so that, rather than ships being dead in the water, a controls ionized result is simply a negative penalty. For example, with the ISD's 1D Maneuverability, a 3 Controls Ionized result would result in a -3D penalty, rather than a Controls Dead result, and would maneuver at -2D, rather than 1D.

What I'm thinking for ion cannon is in several parts:

1). Rather than ignoring shields, ion cannon expend their full damage potential against the shields themselves, rather than against Hull + Shields.

2). Any damage to shields would cause a Shields Ionized result (equivalent to Controls Ionized, but affects shield dice only), which would roll off at a rate of 1D per round.

3). The shields themselves would serve as Full Cover, and as per the rules for cover, any successful damage to the cover (shields) would bleed through and inflict partial or total damage to the ship itself. Once the shields are reduced to 0D, roll ion damage as normal.

4). Damage would be rolled versus the target's Hull Dice, minus any existing Controls Ionized results, and the only way to completely disable a ship is to inflict a Controls Dead result, as per the existing ion cannon rules.

This changes the playing field greatly for ion cannon. I've always thought it ridiculous that they ignored shields, so this is a good solution to that. Now, rather than simply ignoring shields, ion cannon become a potent anti-shield weapon that can be used in concert with other weapons to degrade an enemy's defenses against lasers and missile weapons, while still maintaining the ability to disable a target when used on its own.

It also greatly enhances the effectiveness of the MC80, as their backup shield dice allow them to bring up additional shields to withstand enemy ion attacks for a few extra rounds.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

but unless you up the Ion cannon's damage they won't be anywhere as used then.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

Not true.

1). By initially attacking just the shields, the ion cannon will be even more effective at bringing shields down (as almost no official ships have shield dice ratings higher than their Hull).

2). Once the shields are down, ion cannon may continue to be used normally (i.e. still rolling against the Hull dice alone to inflict ion damage, but now it is because the shields have been disabled, not just because the shields and ion blasts ignore each other).

It does shift things around for the ion cannon, making them less effective in some circumstances than in others, but overall, this actually makes them more formidable.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index